April 9 (UPI) — The Department of Justice will have a Second Amendment Task Force tasked with protecting gun owners against governmental “overreach,” Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Tuesday.
“The prior administration placed an undue burden on gun owners and vendors by targeting law-abiding citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights,” Bondi said Wednesday in a prepared statement.
“The Department of Justice’s new Second Amendment Task Force will combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President [Donald] Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach,” Bondi said.
The task force announcement comes after the DOJ and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Monday repealed the Enhanced Regulator Enforcement Policy that popularly was called the “zero tolerance policy” for federal firearms license holders.
The Biden administration announced the zero-tolerance policy in 2021, which placed more stringent criteria on licensed gun sellers and those who transfer them to comply with federal firearms laws.
The policy required industry operations inspections and made it much easier to revoke Federal Firearms Licenses (FFL) for gun dealers, sellers and those who transfer firearms from sellers to buyers after obtaining background checks on respective gun buyers.
Repealing the zero tolerance policy and establishing the Second Amendment TaskForce protects the rights of law-abiding gun owners and sellers, Bondi said.
Protecting Second Amendment rights
“For too long, the Second Amendment … has been treated as a second-class right,” Bondi said Tuesday in a memorandum. “No more.”
She said the Justice Department will “use its full might” to protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens after Trump made protecting Second Amendment rights a priority for his administration.
The new task force is tasked with protecting the fundamental right to bear arms by developing and executing strategies to use litigation and policy to advance, protect and promote compliance with the Second Amendment.
Bondi will chair the task force that will be made up of representatives from Bondi’s personal staff, the offices of the deputy attorney general, associate attorney general and the solicitor general.
Representatives from the Civil Division, Civil Rights Division, Criminal Division, ATF and FBI also will participate in the task force.
Gun safety groups criticize Trump and Bondi
Gun safety group Brady United did not comment on Bondi’s task force announcement but on Monday denounced the repeal of the ATF’s zero-tolerance policy.
“This Biden administration policy empowered ATF to crack down on rogue gun dealers who egregiously violate federal laws, holding them accountable for dangerous and negligent practices,” Brady United officials said in a news release.
“The reversal of this policy is a gift to the gun industry, sending a clear signal to rogue gun dealers that they can break the law without consequences,” Brady United officials said.
“Gun crime will skyrocket, just like it did during President Trump’s first term when homicide rates soared.”
Brady United President Kris Brown accused Trump and Bondi of engaging in a campaign to “cripple the ATF’s enforcement capabilities.”
“This administration is systematically dismantling the safeguards designed to keep weapons out of dangerous hands,” Brown said.
“These aren’t just policy changes,” Brown added. “They’re deliberate choices that prioritize gun industry profits over American lives.”
The Giffords anti-gun violence group likewise criticized the move by the Trump administration.
“The special interest task force announced by the Trump administration is clearly a favor to gun industry CEOs,” Giffords deputy press secretary Sabine Bredesen told UPI.
“Notably, the president hasn’t yet taken a single action to address the number one killer of American kids: gun crime and gun violence,” Bredesen said. “That is simply unacceptable.”
